Earls back as O'Mahony moves to number eight

ONCE MORE into the breach! In the 51st week and 17th Test of the season, Declan Kidney has kept changes to a minimum as Ireland seek a first win over the All Blacks next Saturday in the last game of a season that, by rights, should have been sponsored by Duracell.

Peter O’Mahony is promoted to the starting line-up in a straight swap for the injured Jamie Heaslip, Paddy Wallace emerges from a summer holiday in Portugal to renew an off-on partnership with Brian O’Driscoll in midfield in place of Gordon D’Arcy, while the fit-again Keith Earls returns to the wing at the expense of Andrew Trimble.

It says everything about the way Seán O’Brien has almost reinvented himself as an openside flanker that O’Mahony comes in as a direct replacement for Heaslip, one of the linchpins of the Irish pack over the last three seasons.

The selection of Wallace is undoubtedly a gamble, though he has had a superb end to the season with Ulster and is very familiar with the Irish offensive and defensive patterns.

This, in turn, means Kidney has maintained the investment in Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton – as things stand, the Irish half-back partnership through to the next World Cup – while also retaining O’Driscoll at outside centre rather than asking him to play at inside centre, a role where he looked uncomfortable in the first Test.

There was, for sure, an argument for starting Ronan O’Gara at outhalf with Sexton at inside centre in a reprise of the combination which worked so effectively in the last half hour at Christchurch, but by keeping O’Gara on the bench Ireland have kept their ace-in-the-hole in reserve for the endgame.

Kidney played down any concerns about Wallace not having played since the pre-tour game against the Barbarians. “I suppose this is where they are good pros, you know? Sometimes fellas get to a certain stage of their career and they know it’s not worth it taking four weeks off, so he’s been doing a bit every second day, keeping himself ticking over.

“It is ironic really the way it has fallen for Paddy this time in terms of selection. Over the last three years, he’s in the squad, he’s training away, he hasn’t done anything, we just had an arrangement this year that we wouldn’t have him in the squad unless we had to, to allow him play away because after a while too, for all players, playing week-to-week helps to get a bit of form.

“Paddy has shown that in the last three to four months with Ulster and he finished off well against the Barbarians too. It is ironic the way opportunities come about really, isn’t it?”

Perming Earls with O’Driscoll was another option, as was Fergus McFadden, or, as Kidney said, O’Gara and Sexton at 10-12. “It just shows the versatility we had but it also shows the value of having Keith (Earls) in the squad. That’s where Luke (Fitzgerald) was very handy and where Fergus is very handy as well too. Their versatility is a big plus for us.”

As for the changes to the All Blacks team to both wings, the secondrow and the absence of Dan Carter, Kidney said: “Being absolutely honest, we learned after the first Test that it was just a matter of getting ourselves right. It is good to get an update on them but we’ve concentrated purely this week on getting ourselves right. We played them two years ago when they brought in four guys like that and the downside of that is it will be such a huge occasion that it will give them a great lift and momentum in terms of bringing lads in and giving them a go. It is their outhalf’s (Aaron Cruden) home ground so that will obviously get the crowd well in behind them.

“There’s no point in doing it once,” admitted Kidney of not backing up last Saturday’s big performance. “Nobody goes to an inconsistent doctor. That’s just the truth of it. But then that said, what way are they going to turn up then too? It’s how you measure consistency. There’ll be a completely different challenge.

“This is like a Lions series, where you play three Tests on the trot. There’s a build up to it and you must do your work and everybody will write things like dead rubbers but once these games start they’re full throttle too.

“I don’t want to be using clichés and stuff but that’s the opportunity that Saturday presents. You either want to shy away from that or you want to accept it. We now go to Hamilton when they appear to be a little bit bruised. This means it’s going to be all the tougher. That will give us a better indication as to where we sit. We said we’d learn a lot about ourselves on this tour, we have done so far and I think we’ll continue to do that right to the last minute.”

(Ireland v New Zealand, Hamilton, Saturday, 8.35am)

15 Rob Kearney (Leinster)

14 Fergus McFadden (Leinster)

13 Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt)

12 Paddy Wallace (Ulster)

11 Keith Earls (Munster)

10 Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)

9 Conor Murray (Munster)

1 Cian Healy (Leinster)

2 Rory Best (Ulster)

3 Mike Ross (Leinster)

4 Dan Tuohy (Ulster)

5 Donnacha Ryan (Munster)

6 Kevin McLaughlin (Leinster)

7 Seán O’Brien (Leinster)

8 Peter O’Mahony (Munster)

Replacements:Seán Cronin (Leinster), Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Chris Henry (Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster).

IRISH HEARTSwill have skipped a beat, and New Zealand fans will have felt an uncomfortable reminder of the World Cup, with the news that Dan Carter has been ruled out of Saturday's third Test. The promotion of Aaron Cruden is one of four changes in personnel to the All Blacks team, two of them forced by injury, writes GERRY THORNLEY

Carter has suffered a hamstring injury which has made him unavailable for selection, but it should be noted Cruden was by some distance the pick of the three players who stood in for the world's best outhalf during the All Blacks' eventual World Cup success when starring in the semi-final win over Australia. Furthermore, Cruden has been in a rich vein of form in starting every match of the Chiefs' rise to the top of the Super 15 standings.

There are two other changes in the backs: last weeks wings Zac Guildford and Julian Savea are replaced by Hosea Gear and Ben Smith, while uncapped lock Luke Romano is promoted ahead of Brodie Retallick. As expected, Kieron Read has been ruled out, with captain Richie McCaw (making his 100th Test appearance) switching to number eight and Sam Cane making his first Test start after a strong showing as a half-time replacement last Saturday.

Another home town hero, Liam Messam, who was called into the All Blacks squad this week, is at blindside flanker, with Adam Thomson on the bench.

NEW ZEALAND:I Dagg; B Smith, C Smith, S B Williams, H Gear; A Cruden, A Smith; T Woodcock, A Hore, O Franks, L Romano, S Whitelock, L Messam, S Cane, R McCaw (capt). Replacements: K Mealamu, B Franks, B Retallick, A Thomson, P Weepu, B Barrett, T Ellison.